African Diaspora Summary

901 Words4 Pages

Chelsea Nsonwu
AFRI-L232
Response paper 2
African Diaspora in North America
The purpose of the article is to revisit organizational themes and concepts used in previous chapters as a way to understand the multiple perspectives on experiences of the African Diaspora in America and Canada. There are two main themes in this article. The first theme is that the people in the African Diaspora are not homogenous and are extremely diverse in many ways. The second theme and main argument of the article is that the racial inequality imbedded in the history of Canada and America, effects and influences the well-being of black immigrants and native born black people in Canada and America.
Black immigrants first meet this inequality by trying to enter …show more content…

This separation also applies to Black immigrants in the area. However in the Black residential areas, West Indians (Caribbeans excluding Hattians) live in the more wealthy areas while African Americans and Hattians live in the poorer areas. Because West Indians have greater emphasis and education, achievement and upward mobility, they are able to afford rent and buy home in nicer areas in the black residential area. West Indian’s perceived ‘blackness’ make it hard for them to exist in White communities, but in Black communities their ‘blackness’ does restrict mobility in the community. So more often than not, West Indian tend to live in Black communities because there is mobility, the can open up shops, and their merit is recognized. African Immigrants are recent population in America and make up a tiny part of the population, but have higher levels of completed education compared to Afro-Caribbeans, African Americans, Whites, and Asians. However the average income of Africans is less than the average income of Afro-Caribbeans. Even though a higher percentage of Africans live below the poverty line, compared to Afro-Caribbeans, they have a lower unemployment rate. Like West Indians, Africans are able to have mobility in Black communities, but are unable have the same in white …show more content…

Western conceptions of people are so powerful that they have also entered non-Western countries. Because of this, there is this single story, of a diverse group of people, being told, spread around, and believed to be true. From reading this article I have come to understand that between different Black immigrants groups are treated differently. In America, African immigrants have more socioeconomic mobility, than the African immigrants in Canada. As the daughter of African immigrants in America, I have seen and experienced the plight of Africans. Many African immigrants do not always start off with high paying jobs, but they are hardworking and not satisfied with staying with staying in the same place. Africans are always trying to better themselves; with this mentality I believe Africans will not be content with inequality and will strive to change America and